The present invention relates to flavorful forms of tobacco for cigarettes and other types of smoking articles, and in particular, to processes for providing such flavorful forms of tobacco.
Popular smoking articles, such as cigarettes, have a substantially cylindrical rod shaped structure and include a charge of smokable material, such as shreds or strands of tobacco material (i.e., in cut filler form), surrounded by a paper wrapper, thereby forming a tobacco rod. It has become desirable to manufacture a cigarette having a cylindrical filter element aligned in an end-to-end relationship with the tobacco rod. Typically, a filter element includes cellulose acetate tow circumscribed by plug wrap, and is attached to the tobacco rod using a circumscribing tipping material. Many cigarettes include processed tobacco materials and/or tobacco extracts in order to provide certain flavorful characteristics to those cigarettes.
Many types of smoking products and improved smoking articles have been proposed through the years as improvements upon, or as alternatives to, the popular smoking articles. Recently, U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,151 to Shelar; U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,795 to White et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,082 to Banerjee et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,318 to Clearman et al; and U.S. Pa. No. 4,793,365 to Sensabaugh, Jr. et al; and European Patent Publication Nos. 12,234 and 277,519 propose cigarettes and pipes which comprise a fuel element, an aerosol generating means physically separate from the fuel element, and a separate mouth end piece. Such types of smoking articles provide natural tobacco flavors to the smoker thereof by heating, rather than burning, tobacco in various forms.
As natural tobacco flavors are important components of smoking articles in order that such smoking articles can provide adequate tobacco taste and aroma, improved processes for providing natural tobacco flavor substances and flavorful forms of tobacco are desirable. It would be highly desirable to provide a process for efficiently and effectively producing these flavorful forms of tobacco.